Ingush Court Allows Appeal of Ban on Committee Searching for MIAs from 1992 Prigorodny War

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 30 –Ingush courts once again have shown they are far more independent that most in Russia and thus given Moscow yet another reason not to want the trial of protest leaders to take place there, a Magas court has allowed an appeal of an earlier decision to liquidate a group looking for MIAs from the 1992 Prigorodny war.

            In June, the Ingush justice ministry asked a court to liquidate the Committee for Supporting the Search for Hostages and MIAs in that conflict  because it had failed to file required paperwork (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/10/magas-shuts-group-seeking-mias-from.html).

            Many feared that this latest move against Ingush civil society would be successful, but now another court in Magas has accepted the arguments of the Committee that such an action was excessive – most groups are allowed to correct paperwork errors – and allowed its activists to appeal the earlier decision (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/355903/).

            The latest decision does not mean that the liquidation order will necessarily be overturned, but it does signal that the actions of the Ingush justice ministry in this case violate standard practice to the point that some in the judicial system feel are insufficient for the remedy it sought.

            At the very least, this shows that the courts in Ingushetia, unlike those in many other parts of the Russian Federation, aren’t slavish followers of whatever executive branch agencies want and that Ingush groups under attack can have some hope that the courts will be on their side rather than that of their oppressors.

            There is another consequence here that may in the end matter more: Appeals of this decision will go to courts beyond the borders of the republic. If those courts rule against the appellants, Ingush will conclude that the original ban had its origins less in Magas than in Moscow.

            In that event, this case will only deepen the divide between Russia and Ingushetia and, more important, between Russians and Ingush, a trend that will make future activism in the republic ever more anti-Russian and limit Moscow’s ability to control it without the use of police force.